Study of empires and imperial power within the context of world history is a relatively recent subject within a field which itself is quite young. With the ever present discussions on the issue of globalization and increased contact among modern nation-states, a need to understand the long term trends in human and material interaction, and the means of controlling them, is increasingly felt in academia. Empires, as large units of administration which are often posited to have had an abusive relationship with their peripheries, are deemed viable subjects of study and inquiry in the pre-modern, pre-globalized world. On the other hand, the imposed frame work of modern nation-states on historiography, and the long trend in national, and often nationalistic historiography, similarly has encouraged a study of the empires which are thought to be ancestors of modern nations, from Italy and Rome to China and the Qing Empire. Among these, the Achaemenid Empire which ruled the Near East, and occasionally parts of North Africa, for about two centuries (late sixth to late fourth century BCE) is a curious and commonly neglected case. Often fitted within the national historiography of Iran, it is nonetheless acknowledged to have had a wider impact on the region beyond the borders of the modern nation-state.

The essays presented here are meant as a contribution to the study of the Achaemenid world and are conceptualized within the framework of World History, attempting to assess their two centuries of rule outside the physical and temporal boundaries of their political control. Many other issues, most importantly elaborations on Achaemenid economy as well as various issues of cultural and linguistic importance, will need to be considered for presenting a more complete vision of the Achaemenid world, something that the editors hope will be taken up by subsequent researchers and scholars of ancient history, further enriching our knowledge of this important period of human history.

Khodadad Rezakhani

Khodadad Rezakhani was born in Tehran, Iran and has lived in Iran, US, and Europe. He earned his PhD in 2010 from UCLA. His research focuses on ancient and late antique history and includes Eastern Meditearranean, Iran, and Central Asia. He has also worked on pre-Viking Age Scandinavian history, as well as ancient numismatics. His most recent work has concentrated on Central Asia in late antiquity and includes "the Road That Never Was: The Silk Road and Trans-Eurasian Exchange," CSMME, 30.3 (2010) as well as a forthcoming volume on late antique history of Central Asia. He currently resides in London, UK where he is works and teaches at the London School of Economics.

Touraj Daryaee

Touraj Daryaee was born in Tehran, Iran in 1967. His elementary and secondary schooling was in Tehran, Iran and Athens, Greece. Daryaee took his Ph.D. in History at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999. He specializes in the history and culture of Ancient Persia. His most recent articles include: “History, Epic, and Numismatics: On the Title of Yazdgerd I (Ramšahr),” Journal of the American Numismatic Society, vol. 14, 2002(2003), pp. 89-95; “Gayomard: King of Clay or Mountain? The epithet of the First Man in the Zoroastrian Tradition,” Paitimana, Essays in Iranian, Indo-European, and Indian Studies in Honor of Hanns-Peter Schmidt, Mazda Press, 2003, pp. 339-349; “Sight, Semen, and the Brain: Ancient Persian Notions of Physiology in Old and Middle Iranian Texts,” The Journal of Indo-European Studies, vol. 30, nos. 1&2, 2002, pp. 1-26; “The Changing ‘image of the World’: Geography and Imperial Propaganda in Ancient Persia,” Electrum, Studies in Ancient History, vol. 6, 2002, pp. 99-109. His books include Šahrestaniha i Eranšahr, A Middle Persian Text on Late Antique Geography, Epic, and History, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, 2002; History & Culture of the Sasanians, Qoqnoos Press, Tehran, 2003; and Menog i Xrad: The Spirit of Wisdom, Essays in Memory of Ahmad Tafazzoli, Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa, 2003. He is also the editor of the Name-ye Iran-e Bastan, The International Journal of Ancient Iranian Studies.